Long considered a masterpiece of Western cinema, Sergio Leone’s “Once
Upon a Time in the West” pays homage to the Western genre in a way that
both paints the genre in superb technical detail and capitalizes on its
popularity to fashion twists and turns that only Leone could deliver.
Many consider this film to be the first post-modernist Western, since
it draws so heavily from many John Ford films, including “High Noon”
and “The Searchers.” Restored to its original uncut form, cleaned and
re-transferred, including an all new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, as well as
the restored original mono track, this edition brings the mastery of 36
years ago into stark relief and contrast with what is considered to be
today’s art house genre films.

Once upon a time in the west, in a fantastic and famous opening
sequence (one that every film student is made to see at least three or
four times), we are introduced to Harmonica (Charles Bronson), a
dangerous man of few words who has just come into town, his presence
accompanied at all times by the harmonica he plays. Coming in on
another train into the main area of the town of Flagstone is Jill
McBain (Claudia Cardinale, one of Italy’s greatest beauties). She is on
her way to the area outside of town known as Sweetwater, where her new
husband and his children await her arrival. In another famous sequence,
before Jill arrives, the entire McBain family is gunned down by a group
of rogue men, lead by Frank (Henry Fonda), ruthless enforcer of Morton
(Gabriele Ferzetti), an Eastern robber baron who is intent on bringing
the railroads west at any cost and at high profit to himself.

As Jill is taken to her new home, she stops at a way station, where she
meets not only Harmonica, but also Cheyenne (Jason Robards), a recently
escaped outlaw with a penchant for flair and fairness. Jill afterwards
makes it to Sweetwater, only to find her new husband and his children
laid out on tables, dead. Cheyenne drops in and informs her that Morton
is most likely behind the killings. Matriarch to a slaughtered family,
Jill vows revenge and immediately sets out to keep hold of McBain’s
original intentions. Harmonica is going after Frank, for reasons as yet
unknown, and when the two meet, Harmonica responds to Frank’s “Who are
you?” with the names of various dead men, men whom Frank has killed.
What ensues is a typically Leone look at one woman’s determination to
keep hold of her land, another man’s search for revenge, and another’s
revelation of honesty and principle.

When it was initially released, “Once Upon a Time in the West” was
considered to be a middling work, overly long and overly stylized. In
an effort to keep the running time down, the studio had removed over 20
minutes of footage, but success was still elusive. Having been made
after the “Dollars” trilogy (“A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars
More” and “The Good the Bad and the Ugly,” all starring Clint
Eastwood), “Once Upon a Time” was considered to be too arty. Restoring
the cut 20 minutes actually helped the film, and in some areas of the
world it blossomed. Ultimately, this film has been recognized mostly
after the fact by critics and fans alike as a masterpiece of the
Western genre. Blessed with incredibly talented actors, displaying one
of the greatest genre soundtracks of all time – by Ennio Morricone –
and featuring not only the flair and attention to painstaking detail
that was a hallmark of Leone, but also a simplicity of storytelling
that features only 15 pages of dialogue, this is truly one of the
greatest Westerns of all time.

The bonus material for this special edition is very up-to-date.
Completed in 2003 by an English production company, the documentaries
include new interviews with Cardinale, Ferzetti, cinematographer Tonino
Delli Colli and others. There are two old interviews featuring the late
Leone and the late Fonda, who relates the always amusing contact lens
story. It is an interesting look at not only a great film, but also at
one of the biggest and most important names from cinema in the 20th
century. Added are the original trailer, whose film rating will amuse
people, a featurette about railroads, a few sparse cast profiles, and
two sets of stills, one an intriguing look at the locations both back
in 1967 and how they look today. The commentary is very detailed, but
due to the great number of people involved, it can seem a bit
convoluted. The best bits are from Sir Christopher Frayling, a
biographer of Leone, whose comments throughout the special features are
the most lucid and well-presented. Nevertheless, this is a refreshing
idea from the DVD producers, allowing some great cinematic minds to
discuss the film in commentary form in a bit of posthumous tribute to
Leone.

Having seen the laserdisc version of the recut film in 1995, it is
amazing how much improvement was done for this release. The transfer
has been cleaned and retouched so that, 1960s film stock aside, the
film doesn’t look anywhere near 36 years old. The color saturation is
the biggest surprise, as many of the formerly muted colors burst forth
with renewed enthusiasm, creating the original desired contrast between
Sweetwater, the railroad and the town of Flagstone. A special treat is
the creation and addition of a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital mix. As sound
and music play explicitly large roles in the film, the reintegration
and separation of the sound elements is done skillfully and effectively
here. The original mono track has been remastered as well, giving new
life to what had been a very tinny-sounding dialogue track. Of course,
now that we are so spoiled with superior sounds these days, there is no
need to listen to the mono track, except for nostalgic purposes or on
the chance that you only have a television speaker putting out sound.

“Once Upon a Time in the West” is a film not only for Western buffs but
also for film connoisseurs and anyone who really appreciates well-timed
one-liners. Correctly utilizing all the talent he had around, including
his own, Sergio Leone produced a true masterpiece of cinema that is
brought to new life with this special edition DVD.